Film & TV NewsBen Platt Shares Update on Merrily We Roll Along Film
Boyhood director Richard Linklater is helming a film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical shot over decades.
By
Logan Culwell-Block
April 05, 2022
Ben Platt
Joseph Marzullo/Media Punch
Ben Platt has shared an update on Richard Linklater's upcoming film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along, which, like Linklater's Boyhood, will be filmed over decades. The project was announced in 2019.
Speaking to Grammys.com before his Sondheim tribute performance at the Grammy Awards April 3, the Dear Evan Hansen Tony winner shares that only the chronologically earliest scene has been shot (ostensibly including the songs "Our Time" and perhaps "Opening Doors"). Platt also shares that he is next scheduled to film scenes for the project in late 2023.
Beanie Feldstein
The 1981 musical, with a book by Furth and a score by Sondheim, is based on Kaufman and Hart's 1934 Broadway play. Merrily We Roll Along, which was originally directed by Harold Prince, famously travels backwards in time to navigate the bumpy history of three friends who start their careers in show business together.
With a plot that takes place over 20 years, Linklater's film adaptation will look to capture its actors in their characters' authentic ages throughout. Platt is starring as composer Charley Kringas, with Beanie Feldstein as writer Mary and Blake Jenner as composer Frank.
The musical was celebrated in the documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened. Lonny Price, who co-starred as lyricist Charley Kringas in the original production, directed and co-produced the film, which features interviews with Sondheim, director Prince, and Price's original co-stars, Ann Morrison and Jim Walton.
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Looking Back at Merrily We Roll Along
Looking Back at Merrily We Roll Along
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Original cast members Jason Alexander, Terry Finn, Jim Walton and Sally Klein
Featuring co-creator Steven Sater reflecting on the original production and how Likes' Arizona revival reimagines its contents, the film will premiere next month.
